The Thermal Coal Paradox

In principle, thermal coal should have a bright outlook: not only it is a cheap source of energy, but with 1.2 billion people still lacking proper access to electricity it also has a large untapped market. This is the thermal coal paradox: the world has a significant deficit in electricity but the investment outlook for this cheap, widely available energy source is nonetheless poor. The key findings from this report are that coal will play a limited role in addressing energy poverty and that rising productivity will keep the market well supplied.